Toothbrushes for cleaning multiple teeth at the same time have been known for many years. For example a U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,710 of Solow discloses a power-actuated toothbrush that brushes both sides of a tooth. The bristles extend at an angle to the sides of the tooth so that the bristles enter and clean the sulcus area. As disclosed, the bite surface of the teeth are cleaned simultaneously with the sides of the teeth and at times an entire dental arch or even the entire mouth of teeth can be cleaned in a single operation.
A second approach for simultaneously cleaning multiple teeth is disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,237 wherein a toothbrush has an electric motor enclosed in a handle for driving a plurality of rotary brushes for simultaneously cleaning multiple tooth surfaces. The rotary brushes are mounted in a brush head adapted to be releasably supported on one end of an elongated brush head support stem having flexible drive shafts extending there along and having its other end adapted to be releasably mounted on the handle to provide a rotary driven connection between the motor and brushes. The releasable mounting of the brush head and its support stem enables hygienic use of the same motor and handle by a plurality of persons through use of personalized snap-on brush heads and support stems and also makes possible the ease and economical replacement of the brush heads.
A further approach to a dental hygiene apparatus having a plurality of rotating brushes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,315 of Barth. As disclosed therein, a dental hygiene apparatus having five incurvated, flexible, rotating brushes mounted in a H-shaped arrangement on a housing which comprises an open brush holder portion matching with two opposed half dental arches and consists of an outer cheek-guard and an inner tongue-guard, and a closed biting portion provided with a pair of opposite restrictions for receiving the incisor teeth of the other two half dental arches.
In addition, a U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,826 of Vrignaud et al. discloses a powered toothbrush with a pair of disc-like rotary brushes mounted for rotation about an axis generally perpendicular to the length of the brush. The rotary brushes are in axially spaced relationship and are provided with inwardly directed bristles. Between the rotary brushes, upper and lower linear brushes are mounted above and below the axis of rotation for linear reciprocating motion generally perpendicular to that axis. The upper brush has upwardly directed bristles, and the linear brushes are mounted to the rotary brushes so as to be brought into reciprocal, linear movement when the rotary brushes are reciprocated angularly.
Further, a patent of Arnoux et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,911 discloses a toothbrush with a dual rotary brushing system. The patent discloses a mechanical toothbrush with dual rotary brushing systems and comprising a handle forming body and a head fixed to the handle. The head is provided with two adjacent contra-rotating brushes of cylindrical shape and having substantially parallel axes. Each of the two brushes is driven by a flexible shaft situated in the head and supported at least at its distal end, by a respective bearing mounted on a support that enables the two brushes to move apart one away from the other, then urging the brushes towards the other by a return effect.
A still further approach to a rotary tooth cleaning device is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,396 of Simovitz et al. The Simotivtz et al. patent discloses a tooth cleaning device having a tooth cleaning head including: (i) a housing with sides that straddle the tooth along both long faces and defining a longitudinal axis extending between the sides thereof and along the long faces; (ii) gears affixed along respective inner surfaces of the sides of the housing; (iii) tooth cleaning elements affixed along the inner side of the gears and being operatively spaced apart from one another, along the longitudinal axis of the tooth cleaning head, to form a gap therebetween; and (iv) a drive mechanism including: a drive shaft affixed to the inner surfaces of the sides of the housing and spanning the housing, a drive wheel connected to the drive shaft, and transfer gears affixed near the ends of the drive shaft and aligned with the gears; and (b) a handle connected to the tooth cleaning head, wherein as the tooth cleaning device travels along a row of teeth, the drive wheel rotates along the biting surface of the teeth, thereby rotating the drive shaft and the transfer gears, the transfer gears in turn providing rotating motion to the gears affixed along the inner surfaces of the sides of the housing and the tooth cleaning elements, such that the long faces of the tooth are cleaned simultaneously by rotary cleaning motion.
Notwithstanding the above it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an improved dental hygiene device in accordance with the present invention. There should be a need and a potential market for such devices because the device cleans the bite surface and both sides of a tooth simultaneously and is adapted to move from one tooth to another around the dental arches until the upper or lower teeth are cleaned. The action is then repeated for the upper or lower dental arches which were not cleaned in the first action. Further, the dental hygiene device as disclosed is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and can be sold at a competitive price. The device also includes a battery operated motor in the handle for driving the brushes to effect the cleaning action. Further, it is believed that the devices in accordance with the present invention can be manufactured and sold at a competitive price, are relatively durable and manufactured in a way that the brushes can be readily replaced.